Conservation Advocates Applaud Federal Funding Boosts, but Worry USDA Can’t Distribute Them

By Makenzie Huber

Farmers and conservation organizations welcomed the additional funding for some conservation programs President Donald Trump signed into law this summer. But they also worry there won’t be enough federal staff around to ensure the programs’ success.

The topic came up Wednesday during sessions with advocates and South Dakota’s congressional delegation at the annual Dakotafest farm-and-ranch trade show in Mitchell. 

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act consolidated conservation funding by redirecting unobligated conservation funding from the Biden administration to popular producer-conservation programs such as the Conservation Stewardship Program and the Environmental Quality Incentives Program.

But the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced in a memo on July 24 that the department would reduce its workforce and relocate most staff from Washington, D.C., to five locations throughout the country in North Carolina, Missouri, Indiana, Colorado, and Utah.

The move would bring the department “closer to the people it serves,” Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said in the memo. Rollins planned to speak at Dakotafest on Wednesday but was unable to attend.

Gene Stehly has farmed in the Mitchell area for 46 years. He said the staffing decision compounds an already “unpredictable” political atmosphere affecting agriculture.

Stehly incorporated a no-till strategy, planted cover crops, added a riparian buffer and placed land into the Conservation Reserve Program over the last four decades, he told South Dakota Searchlight.

He and his work partner wanted to save time and soil moisture, not realizing initially the benefit their decisions would have on productivity and overall soil health.

“None of it would have ever occurred without federal funding,” Stehly said.

The Conservation Reserve Program specifically increased profitability, he said. The program pays farmers and ranchers to remove environmentally sensitive land from agricultural production and maintain grass, trees and other plant species on enrolled acres. That helps prevent soil erosion, filters runoff that enters waterways, and establishes habitat for wildlife.

Invest in Our Land Executive Director Rebecca Bartels said farmers “overwhelmingly voted” for the Trump administration, and she had hoped to hear more about the USDA reorganization and staffing cuts from Rollins. The conservancy advocacy organization ran a booth at Dakotafest.

A recent report from the University of Illinois projects that the additional funding will infuse another $2 billion into South Dakota conservation efforts over the next decade.

Bartels worries not enough staffers will relocate out of Washington, D.C., to manage the USDA workload. Democrats on the House Committee on Agriculture expressed similar concerns and questioned Rollins’ reasoning for the reorganization in a letter last week.

“It’s great that the funds are protected,” Bartels said. “Now how do we make sure they actually get used and that farmers have partners in getting these practices on the ground?”

“We don’t want to see a dip in program use and adoption because farmers don’t have the support they need to use these practices for the first time,” Bartels added. “Farmers are operating on razor thin margins, so to take a risk and take on a new practice is intimidating.”

Members of South Dakota’s congressional delegation spoke to the benefits of the conservation programs during a Dakotafest policy panel. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-South Dakota, talked about his recently introduced bill to increase maximum annual payments from $50,000 to $125,000 for the Conservation Reserve Program.

The program expires at the end of September unless it is re-authorized by Congress.

“I want to encourage conservation,” Thune said. “A lot of our conservation policies do that, but we also want to make sure that those are workable.”

The bill would also provide cost-share funds for grazing infrastructure, like fencing and water tanks, and on conservation contracts that include grazing. It would also expand a program that helps landowners plant trees and create wetlands on enrolled acres, and make it easier to produce hay on land set aside for conservation during drought conditions.

Thune said after the presentation that his office will pay attention to whether USDA offices are able to keep up with the workload.

“At the end of the day, they’ve got a job to do,” Thune said. “We want to make sure they get it done efficiently and in a timely way so that producers know what the rules are and begin to make their planning decisions.”

South Dakota Searchlight launched in 2022. The Searchlight is an affiliate of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization, supported by grants and donations. The staff of the Searchlight retains full editorial independence.